Nneka Eze
Nneka holds an AB in economics cum laude from Harvard College along with a citation in Spanish language and speaks intermediate French. Nneka has worked across Africa, and in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. She moved to Kenya in 2009, living briefly in Senegal before moving to Nigeria, and has spent her professional career in Africa. Her frame of reference has been based on Black feminism, and her understanding of race and class struggles in America as an underrepresented minority. Applying this perspective to an African context helps her to understand how class dynamics work, how biases affect capital allocations, and how important it is to invest in African founders to spur economic growth. Nneka has written multiple articles and op-eds on Africa’s growth trajectory and investment opportunities in various publications.
Nneka is a Managing Partner at VestedWorld, an Africa-focused venture capital firm investing in agriculture, consumer goods, and enabling technology startups in East and West Africa. She has over 15 years of experience working in and across Africa and believes deeply in the firm’s north star -- that Africa can become the next East Asia. VestedWorld has 34 portfolio companies and over 30 million AUM in two closed-end funds backing founders with a commitment to investing in African founders and female founders. Since joining VestedWorld in 2021 she has led transactions in the creative industries, B2B retailtech, fintech, healtech/biotech, and mobility/logistics.
Nneka has deep experience and knowledge of mass market African consumers in rural and urban areas. Prior to VestedWorld, Nneka founded the Nigerian office of a global strategy consulting firm after helping scale the business across Africa, and was co-lead the Global Agriculture & Food Security Practice. She previously worked as a Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company in Washington, DC including on a project in Lagos, Nigeria.
Nneka has been involved in building the impact investing ecosystem in Nigeria. In 2019, Nneka developed the strategy for the Impact Investors’ Foundation of Nigeria (a non-profit which aims to unlock impact investing in Nigeria and which is the secretariat for the national advisory board) and sits on the Board. She also serves on the inaugural National Advisory Board for Impact Investing in Nigeria. Nneka is on the Board of Directors of two nonprofits focused on social entrepreneurship (The Resolution Project) and public sector leadership development (AMP Health).